Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-04-12

kilograms from Cadiz, Steubenville,
aud points west of Columbus report the
arrest Of large number of railroad en-
ployeS Implicated in the robbery. The
preliminary hearing will be held on April
IS, 1887
To Joseph Rue, special agent of the
Pennsylvania Railroad, and Detective
Gilkenscn of this city is due all the credit
OF running the thieves down. In an inter
view with Rae this afternoon the follow
ing account was Obtained Of the rObberies,
their detection, the modus Operandi OF
their execution, etc. Mr.. Rue said:
Two years ago we decided to
dispense with locks On the cars and intro
duCe our present system Of seals. The
sea! is Of lead, is about the size Of ) cent
piece and is about one-eighth of 81 inch
in thickness. The wire now used in con
neCtiOn with it is one-sixteenth of an inch
iron wire. There are Gurls in it to
! prevent its being pulled through
the lead seal. The method of using it IS
as follows. The wire is pushed through
the seal, then through the hasp OF the car
door then back through the seal again,
forming al UnbrOken circle. An instru-
ment then is used in impressing the seal.
That in use say in PittsbUrg stamps
upon the reverse side the letters
"B G 7 r." and upon the other side
''P. st. l., :" thus indicating that the car
is intact when it enters the Pitts0uTg,
Columbus and st. Louis Railway bound
westward The new wires are Undecided
at the same stroke as the letters are i'm
printed. Thus understood, will give
an idea OF the inception OF the robbery
and its discovery by the officials of the
road. Eastern bound trains were not
molested. Western bound trains have
been the sufferers. As near as we can
estimate it, these robberies have been
going on for two years. At first there
was timidity and they Only occurred at
long intervals, then daily growing holder
and more general until just lately
every train was sufferer. We were puZ-
Zled a long time by the rObberics
as cur reports for western points showed
that the seals were always seemingly
intact. For a long time we blamed the
extraction of goods upon the roustabouts
at piers 81 and 28 in New York and the
dock streets section at Philadelphia,
as nearly all our western bound freight
WAS put in the cars at either one
or the other of those three
places. We employed detectives and all
imaginable devices, and found finally that
our employees at these points We're above
suspicion. As l SIN in charge Of all
CroCkeduess on our road east Of Pitts
burg, it then became my duty to follow
the robbers up to this city. After
most exhaustive search Of the
entire division of the Pennsylvania
Railroad up to Pittsburgh came TO the
conclusion that Cne robberies were
committed west Of Pittsburg. We then
devoted ourselves entirely TO the Western
division. After two months work we
found that the rObberies were committed
between Piutsburg and DenniSOn, Ohio;
that out Of eighty crews seventy-fiVe were
practicing q great game of robbery.
we were badly startled at first by the fact
that the seals on the cars were generally
found intact when the cars reached CO.
lumbus, Ohio, on their way westward
We then commenced q system CT esptOn-
age on every mile of siding between here
and DenisOn. Day andnight the watch was
continued. Meanwhile marked and deCOy
goods were used. We found that local
freight was generally untouched, that the
rObberies were committed on the through
freight, and it WAS only by the closest
scrutiny that q person could detect q
sign of tampering with car. All was
made clear, our course was much easier.
The individuals of these crews were then
each Of them tracked down, and l may
say here that so closely were the stolen
goods located, that out of all the arrests
made last night and this morning there
was not one man but had stolen stuff
either upon him or in his rooms. OF
course you understand that our method
used in ascertaining all these facts can
not be made public; suffice it to say that
we have our hands on every thieV-
ish employe and we are in
easy reach of those on the Union Line.
One dark night one of our brightest men
stumbled against the mystery of the seals
and the method by which they were sue
cessfully tempered with. Concealed
behind a car, he saw q freight crew
come to Union Line car. The wire
was pulled out of the seal, the door
was thrown open and the car entered. In
q short time the men emerged, carrying
lot of plumber. They made eff to the
cabOOse and the conductor pulled back
the door, ran the wire through the seal
where it had been pulled oui and, with q
board, struck it GLOW. The wire went
UdCh W ICS pIdCCJ GuS DIOW uAlGGO Vic SUI
lead again without destroying the lettering
on the other side and the seal was
apparently untouched. When ] say we,
mean of course Mr.. GiIkerson first,
as to him belongs tae exclusive credit of
the rich, well filed drag net. l can give
a few Illustrations OF the spirit of these
employees. In one case, lately, pursuit
was so hot that twenty-five boxes of
fine cigars were hastily burned in the ca
boose stove. In another case the tip re-
suited in two bolts Of fiue silk being
thrown from the caboose into the Monon
gahels river while crossing the Panhandle
bridge. In another instance a crew broke
open a Car and found it full of organs.
One Of the men was so enraged at finding
nothing Of steslable kind that he thrust
an iron bar into on organ and ruined
it. We have evidence that freight con-
ductor broke into car, opened a piano
and sat aud played it all night, stopping
at midnight to eat his supper off OF the